COLLEGES SACRIFICED 5000 MEN

UNIVERSITY'S TOTAL HIGHEST OF AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS; YALE SECOND.

NO WRITER ATTRIBUTED
May 23, 1919

Four thousand, nine hundred and twenty men of American universities have given their lives in the great war, of whom, the University, with 297, or nearly three per cent, of the teachers, graduates, and former and present students who took an active part in the great struggle, has lost a larger number than any other institution. The figures, which have just been compiled, are not complete, as men are still dying of wounds suffered or diseases contracted during the war. It is safe to say that the whole number of those who have been killed will be close to 6,000 when the final returns are in.

This number of 6,000 belongs to the 150,000 who enrolled from colleges and universities. It does not include, however, the members of the Student Army Training Corps. That body was formed at the opening of the present college year, and before the 21st of December had been demobilized. The percentage, therefore, of those who have lost their lives in service is about four. This percentage is practically identical with the percentage of all men who fell who were members of the expeditionary force. This total is reported at the present moment to be about 73,000. Of this number, almost 50,000 died in action from wounds in battle, 20,000 of disease, and between 3,000 and 4,000 died from other causes.

The percentage of American college men who gave up their lives in the Civil War is much larger than that of those who made the great sacrifice in the present war, although the total number is much smaller. The University's percentage of 11.2 in the war of secession is more than eight per cent, greater than the present rate, but only 1,232 students took part in that struggle, of whom 138 died.

Only five colleges besides the University have lost more than one hundred men in the present war, but in some cases a percentage as high as ten has been reported. Yale with 186, Cornell with 158, Columbia with 128, and Princeton with 120 are the other universities that have suffered most heavily.

Inspiring and thrilling as is the record of American college men in the present world struggle, it is yet not so moving as that made by the colleges of our allies. The universities of Canada have sent forth a far greater proportion of their graduates than have the colleges and universities of this country, and a greater proportion of them have been killed. The University of Toronto, for instance, contributed about 5,400 men from students' bench and professors' chair, of whom 604 gave up their lives, or somewhat more than 10 per-cent. Similar contributions have been made by Oxford and Cambridge, and by other English and Scotch universities. Over 11,176 Oxford men had enrolled by the middle of the war, and afterward the number was much greater; 1,412 had laid down their lives and 100 were missing. In the University of Cambridge, of 13,128 past and present ent members enrolled at one time, 1,405 made the great sacrifice and 212 were missing. It may be added that of the whole Cambridge enrollment at this time, no less than 1,945 had suffered wounds.

Perhaps the most moving presentation of all our allies is found in the contributions made by French students. No less than 259 professors of literature, science, medicine, and law of Paris or of the provincial universities gave up their lives, and the number of teachers, schoolmasters, and professors in the various schools and colleges of France who sacrificed all reaches the great total of 6,000. The University of Paris writes 634 names on its roll of honor